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Constitutional Law Scholar Quoted in National Media about Controversial Sex Offender Proposal

April 30, 2005

Tulane University Law Professor M. David Gelfand was quoted in an Associated Press story examining the issues involved in a proposed law that would effectively ban registered sex offenders from living in Miami Beach.

Professor Gelfand cited the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution as a potential challenge to the city ordinance, explaining that similar attempts to keep felons or others out of certain communities have failed under the law. "The courts have made it clear that just because a person is unattractive to a community, you cannot pass a law that will exclude them from a community and push them into other communities."

National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" interviewed Professor Gelfand on June 12, 2005.